Author Archives: pbravin

Editorial #126: Thoughts for Thanksgiving 2012

As always, Dr. Z likes to put up thoughts for holidays..this is something Dr. Z clipped fron an unattributed source on the web…here’s wishing you a nice thanksgiving from Dr. Z and his colleagues at ZVRS…

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to stop for a moment once a year and remember to give thanks. It’s a time to be grateful for one’s health, family, friends, job, home and having food on the table.

Take a few moments as you read through this lens and to share what you will be giving thanks for this Thanksgiving.

We will be taking a few moments with our family to give thanks and say our “Gratefuls” before eating, as a reminder of all that we have to be grateful for, the good and the not so good.

Remember “In all things, give thanks.”

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.

Editorial #125: FCC’s Public Notice on VRS and the Ongoing Discussion

The FCC has issued a public notice for changes to the VRS program. The changes are not in place yet. The FCC is asking for comments before they decide on the changes. Some of the suggested changes are major and one of them involves a rate reduction.

Wow! The Public Notice from the FCC has generated a lot of discussion via email and social media like Facebook. This is a healthy scenario. Rarely has such a matter on public policy generated a lot of dialogue in the deaf and hard of hearing community. But there lies the danger of some parties trying to mislead or distort the message. One website (www.savemyvrs.com) seems to be neutral representing all VRS companies, but it is backed by Sorenson. The whois lookup for the ISP indicates that the owner of the domain is Sorenson:

Another website claiming to be neutral is vrsca.org. While the whois does not indicate it is Sorenson-related, the ISP is located in Utah:

It is common knowledge that VRSCA is funded by Sorenson. While the domain name “vrsca.org” seems to indicate it is a non-profit organization, a lookup on guidestar.com does not bring up VRSCA or Video Relay Services Consumer Association. Doing a Google search on VRSCA, there are no hits when it comes to organization headquarters, nor does it have a Board of Directors or the like. It is not a separate organization; rather it is an arm of some organization, Sorenson in this case. (Disclaimer: I have some very good friends who are part of VRSCA–this is in no way a personal affront on you folks, but merely pointing out the association between VRSCA and Sorenson. I still love you folks on a personal level.)

Both Sorenson and VRSCA have embarked on an offensive disparaging the FCC public notice, trying to influence deaf and hard of hearing people to follow their party line.

While Dr. Z has some concerns about the notice, he feels the public needs to discuss this matter among themselves and decide what is best for the when it comes to VRS. The bottom line in all of this is “functional equivalence”–meaning what hearing people get in the way of their communication needs, we deaf and hard of hearing people legally must have those. What is the cost of functional equivalence? What are the parameters of functional equivalence? To use an example–speed of answer. The FCC mandates 80% of all calls must be answered in 120 seconds measured monthly. If they cut rates too much, providers need to cut interpreters, then this increases the possibility of not meeting the answer time requirement. Where is the line between rates and functional equivalence? I think this is the crux of the ongoing discussion. VRS providers, of course need to realize a profit margin to create innovation and enhance features that promote functional equivalence.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing people like hearing people also need a functionally equivalent market. When hearing people go into a phone store (ATT, Verizon, etc.) they see 50-100 phones in front to choose from. Deaf and hard-of-hearing people should have the same choice, not being locked into one or two. Those phones do not have to be specially designed for video calls. The software inside those phones can do a lot of wonderful and great things. (Dr. Z has been developing software since he attended college-45-50 years ago, that’s how old Dr. Z is. ) Dr. Z understands the power of software and he’s still developing software to this day.

We need a functionally equivalent service and a functionally equivalent market. This should be the objective of the FCC’s Public Notice. And rates should be sensitive to the concept of functional equivalence.

Let the dialogue continue.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.

Editorial #124: Unusual Uses for your iPhone, iPad and Android Devices that You Never Thought Of!

Dr. Z came across an article on the web on this subject and decided to explore more and found some cool ideas, although some of you may already know about this. Tnis is a good diversion from all the things that have been happening out there of late.

Lets go over them….

1. Saving an argument with your spouse (or significant other) on buying whole wheat bread instead of white, non-fat milk instead of whole milk…

If you are at a supermarket and your shopping list just says “milk”, or “bread”. With bread, the bread shelves have 50 varieties of bread, what shall you do? Use Z4 (and soon the Z5) to talk with your spouse or significant other and turn your smartphone over to the bread shelves to point our which specific bread product should be bought. Same with milk or even ice cream…end of argument, live happily ever after!

2. You lose a small screw in a dark room and need to find it! Or you are in a dark area and can’t put a key into the keyhole of your home.

Simple, use the flashlight app on your smartphone! It saved my day the other day in a rainstorm!

3. You visit a friend or relative and they seem not to answer the doorbell.

Use the email or the messaging function on your smartphone top send a email/message!

4. You cut yourself on your face and want to see how bad the cut is, or even want to check your makeup or making sure your hair is in place.

Use the self-view on the camera app–it works as good as a mirror!

5. You get a package tightly packed or bought something from a store that you are not sure you want to keep.

Take a picture before you unpack and more pictures every step of the way. This way, when you return the package, you can repack everything and it will fit perfectly.

6. Playing Monopoly as a board game with someone remotely.

My grandchildren do that with their cousins. It’s much better than the electronic version and promotes conversation and dialogue and brings the family together. You can also do it with Scrabble and other board games.

7. Do something stupid and not using your mind. Sometimes we need a good diversion.

Link to this website for some crazy apps (they can entertain, too.) (For iOS users only for now, sorry.)

8. You need to calculate your tip or need to figure who’s paying what with a large group in a restaurant.

There are many apps out there which help you do this.

9. You want to do yoga, exercise, etc.

Again there are many apps out there. There’s even one app that counts how many times you jump rope by holding the iPhone in your hand. NOTE: Dr. Z is not responsible for any sprained ankles or rapid heartbeats as a result of using this app.

10. Inventory

Keeping an inventory of your wallet, or what’s in each room in your home. Use your smartphone camera to take pictures of all the credit cards in your wallet. Also pictures of every room in your home. It will come in handy whenever there is a need to refer to them.

Dr. Z had so much fun developing this list. He will do it from time to time.

Coming soon! Z5!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #123: Lessons from Hurricane Sandy

Dr. Z wants to express his concern for those who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Dr. Z was at his son’s home in Connecticut–not at a coastal city, but inland.

Nothing much happened where Dr. Z was, except for some fallen branches, etc.

But for those who had blackouts, flooding – it is a difficult thing to deal with.

First of all, most of you have computers and mobile devices.

The information stored on your computers can be lost due to a blackout as it is often accompanied by a surge, so turn off your computers when you expect to lose your power and unplug it.

To add more insurance, save (upload) all your data and your photos (not your apps), on something called Dropbox or Box (cloud). This way if your data is lost, you can always download it. Apps take too much space and you can always download the apps from the App Store or your DVD’s. If you have a flood, and your pictures are on a DVD, it could be damaged. The best is to upload it to the cloud.

For your mobile devices, they are always with you, but they can run out of power. Remember, your car is a mini-generator, you can always plug in your mobile device in your car’s lighter or power outlet and have it charged (remember to do it with the garage door open or outside.) You can also use a battery charger such as Mophie or a Duracell/Energizer battery with a connector to your device. For an interesting story re charging in an hurricane, click on this link.

Wifi will go out in your house, so you will have a 3G or 4G connection on your mobile device. You should download the Z4 to your mobile device to enable video communication in an emergency.

Dr. Z is hopeful the above information will be of help in the next natural disaster in your area.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #122: Apple’s Announcement-What Does it Mean for Us? More Choices!

Let’s look at the Apple product line:

iPod

iPhone

Mac (Macbook, Air Mac, iMac)

iPad (iPad, iPad mini)

All of these products have video! All have cameras in front of the devices! (This is true for the newest Apple devices–some of the older devices do not have a front-facing camera so be sure to check before you buy!)

A little more explanation is necessary. Only the iPhone and the iPad has 3G/4G/4G LTE which means you can use video to communicate when you are out of the house or office.

The iPod and the Mac’s do not have 3G/4G/4G LTE, which means you use wifi inside your home or office.

The iPod, iPhone and the iPad mini-you can hold in your hand.

The Macs laptops and the iPad-you can move around the house and office with those.

Only the iMac will need to stay at your desk.

The point here–you have FULL video communication capability, wherever you are with the Apple product line!

One word of caution: 3G/4G/4G LTE have monthly data caps–which limit you to 3-4 hours of video per month. So for those devices, if you are in a wifi evnironment, be sure to switch to wifi as wifi does not have monthly data caps.

Dr. Z is thrilled with more choices!!!

By the way, the forthcoming Z5 will run on all of the above devices–it’s in the final stages of beta testing. Stay tuned!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #121: FCC Issues Public Notice for VRS-Many Suggested Changes

Here is a list of some of the suggested changes:

– VRS Access Technology

Should VRS software be developed by one provider for all to use or there should be several that are reviewed and approved?
How would people get support if they have problems switch the software?
Separating access providers and interpreting providers. Should there be one provider or several. With one provider, deaf and hard of hearing people do not have a choice but it will be easy for the FCC TO MANAG

– Rate Changes

Changes from 3 tiers to 2 tiers.

First tier is up to 500,000 minutes per month

Changes from about $6.23 to $5.29

Second tier is over 500,000 minutes changes

Changes from $5.04 to $4.50

These suggested changes have far-reaching implications and can affect the quality of service, innovation and research and development.

You can view the Public Notice at this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclaimer: Dr. Z is currently the Vice-President of Business Development and Outreach at CSDVRS, LLC.

A Great Video on the Evolution of Communication-from the Caveman to the Z5

The folks at ZVRS put together a video showing how communication for deaf and hard of hearing people has evolved since the Stone Age.

Soon, the Z5 will represent the next step—Dr. Z has been using it as a beta tester and he is in love with it!

To view the video: click the following link: Evolution-Z5

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Coming Soon–The Best Videophone App for Your iPhone and iPad! Z5 Mobile!

Coming soon!!!

After months of hard work…it is getting there!

The BEST app to make VRS or point-to-point calls…

The Z5 Mobile!

Why is it the best?

Most apps take too many screens and clicks to make a call.

The Z5 needs a few clicks and calling is a breeze!

Stay tuned-soon…soon…soon!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #120: Traveling Overseas-Taking Pictures and Videos

Dr. Z is on vacation in England.

Dr. Z is using his iPhone to take pictures. The iPhone is an amazing device for pictures. But the iPhone memory is limited if you take a lot of pictures. You cannot add a SD memory card to the iPhone. Dr. Z has taken a lot of pictures on his vacation and is getting close to 1,000 pictures and he s starting to run out of memory on his 16gb iPhone so he deleted some apps from his iPhone to make room for more pictures. This has never happened when in normal use back in the states because one does not take that mny pictures when you are at home and you can save pictures on your computer and then delete them from your iPhone. Dr. Z did not take his computer with him on this trip.

The iPhone uploads pictures to his iCloud account automatically using photostream, but it hs a limit of 1,000 pictures so it’s crunch time.

Dr. Z is now using Dropbox to upload his earlier pictures to make room for more pictures. After uploading, he deletes the pictures from his iPhone.

The iPhone is also a great camera. He also takes along a digital camera wih 12x optical zoom for good pictures at a distance. The iPhone has digital zoom which is not as good as optical zoom.

Dr. Z also uses a Flip camcorder for videos. He does not take videos with his iPhone because it takes a lot of memory.

Lesson learned…get an iPhone with bigger memory next time.

Dr. Z is having a great time by the way.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #119: Traveling Overseas-Not Enough Plugs for Your Devices?

Dr. Z is on vacation in Scotland.

When traveling overseas, there is always the issue of not having enough plugs (outlets) for your devices. From previous experience, Dr. Z has seen how many old hotels do not have enough outlets for your devices. To make things worse, most outlets are not compatible with American two-prong outlets, so you need an adapter to be able to use your American plugs in other countries. The outlets are different in various regions of the world–Europe is different from Asia, South America is different from Ireland and the United Kingdom. We like to stay at small hotels, bed and breakfasts and many do not have enough outlets in our rooms. I have my iPhone, iPad and a Flip camcorder. My wife has a Blackberry. That is four devices. With most hotels having one outlet or two, we had to juggle between devices to be sure they were charged. With only one adapter for to share among those devices was not easy.

(in America we have 110/120 volts) (Overseas most outlets run at 220/240 volts). The adapters for most mobile devices today are “intelligent”–they are able to switch between 120 and 240 volts without having to change any switches or settings.

What did Dr. Z do? Dr. Z in planning for this trip came up with a solution and my wife and I are happy! Here’s the solution:

– buy an universal adapter that is designed for international travel. It does not have to have voltage converter capability. (you cannot use a hair dryer with such adapters)

– buy a small power strip with a built in circuit breaker

And you shall travel happily ever after!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Power Strip